Rescued Thai children recall cave ordeal

By Arnaud Dubus

CHIANG RAI, Thailand

The 12 children and their football coach who were rescued from a cave in northern Thailand made their first public appearance on Wednesday.

They described key moments of their ordeal in a carefully planned news conference.

"When I saw the water had flooded the way we came in, I realized that we could not go out of the cave,” said Ekapol Chanthawong, the 25 year-old coach, who led on June 23 the team of children, aged between 11 to 16, in the Tham Luang cave, close to the Myanmar border.

"I suggested that we dig a small channel, so that we could drain the water out of the way. We dug with stones but the water level did not decrease. Then, I told the children not to be afraid and that we will wait the day after when the water level would maybe decrease,” he added.

The team was rescued in a difficult operation led by foreign cave divers and Thai Navy Seals between July 8-10.

They left the hospital where they were treated after the successful evacuation just before the news conference, following which they were reunited with their family.

The Thai authorities organized the news conference to allow the media to listen to the children’s account, so as to avoid interviewing them in the coming weeks. Questions had to be submitted by journalists ahead of the meeting and were screened by a child psychologist in order to avoid traumatizing the children.

A Thai journalist selected by the authorities asked the questions. No questions were asked about a Thai rescuer, 38 year-old Saman Kunan, who died by drowning on July 6 during the rescue operation.

One of the boys, Adul Sam-On, 14, described the moment when the British divers found them in the cave on July 2, 10 days after the children and their coach had entered the cave.

“We heard voices, but we were not sure what it was. We stayed quiet and listened. Then I asked Mig (another boy) to give me a searchlight and I looked at the water," he said.

“Suddenly, I saw foreign divers emerge from the water. We were at the same time surprised and happy,” he added.

The children and the coach all appeared relatively healthy and in good spirits. They were sporting football outfits and came into the room while juggling balls. The authorities asked their parents to deny to journalists access to the children for at least 30 days, in order for them to recover mentally and not to be exposed to trauma.